2009-12-22

Renovation - Guest Bath - Demo

The guest bathroom has been the biggest eye sore since we moved in. At first glance you are immediately repulsed by the county plaid curtains but to look away means discovery of some other displeasing detail. The countertop is like the other bathroom vanities, a sweet 1970's laminate. This one happened to have a pattern of pink trees from above as drawn on a civil consultants drawing. The flooring is the cheapest floor tile available at the time and was installed in such a way that you could fit a penny sideways between two tiles. This atrocious white tiled shows dirt like no other. The mismatched rubber base trim was a nice touch as well. And if you could oversee these pieces, the chromed fixtures, 30 holes in the wall, (2) 30"x30" access panels you would eventually find the tiling in the shower.

After a year of living here I decided to get to work on it. A trip to Lowes put some special order sheet vinyl on order. We realized quite quickly that finding a vanity to fit our 47" wide opening (1" narrower than most cabinets) was going to be a challenge. The cabinets and tops on most pre-made units were not built in a way where I could shave off 1/2" from each side. And the option of trying to modify a wall was out of the question as well. Lowes offered to order a custom vanity for us (1" narrower) but it would cost 175% more!!! We improvised and looked at premium laminate tops with a nicer drop in sink. Integrated bowel will have to wait till next time. We placed our orders for these pieces and went home to tackle the next step... how to build a vanity myself.

Demo is usually a lot of fun but the tight quarters of the bathroom made it frustrating. I took out the toilet and ripped off the base trim easily enough.

Next I began to demo the built in vanity. My first roadblock, the copper extends from within the wall cavity and ties directly to the faucet. I had to kill the water to the house, cut the copper and try something new. The idea of compression fittings freaked me out but I wasn't about to learn how to sweat copper and wanted at the very least a quick fix so I could turn my water back on while moving forward with the demolition. It took a little work but surprisingly not even a smallest drip came from the connection. I was stoked. I proceeded to remove the vanity and knocked out all the nails, a practice I have found very beneficial even though it can take some time, putting them in a plastic container.

After about 4 hours of demo work I was beat and took a break before cleaning up. Stairing back at me in my weary state was a sign telling me to cheer up.